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kumquatlady

List of fruit trees with great success

kumquatlady
12 years ago

What fruit tress are you growing that is doing well? (bearing good crops, good taste, deases resistant, reliable).

This year I planted

Anna & Golden Dorsett Apple trees

Sam Houston & June Gold peach trees

2 Satsuma orange trees

Black mission & Celeste fig trees

2 pecan trees one is chocktaw and other one was Indian name which escapes me. None of these I can't say much about because I just planted them with prayer and hope that it will grow well for me.

Please write details for those of us who wants to learn and seeking good fruit trees that will repay with sweet reward.

Comments (16)

  • john_bonzo
    12 years ago

    The only fruit tree that I have that requires zero care and provides reliable fruit is my Banana Fig.

    Others that are good are:
    Loquat (easy care but not reliable fruit due to cold snaps freezing the flowers)
    Lakeland Limequat (Neem oil/Spinosad spray, cold protection in winter)
    Owari Satsuma (Neem oil/Spinosad spray)

    The rest of my fruit trees are not old enough yet to comment. Other fruit trees in my neighborhood that do fine with no care are: Mulberries, Persimmons, and Pomegranates.

  • TxMarti
    12 years ago

    I don't have great success with any of my fruit or nut trees, but I did a good crop of apples last year. The apple trees are just a few years old. I have NEVER gotten pecans from the pecan tree but I keep hoping.

    However, my neighbor always has a bumper crop on her pear trees. I noticed yesterday that they had started falling. They are smaller this year but then she never waters them.

  • kumquatlady
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Marti8a,
    What are the names of your apple trees?

  • ExoticRGVNativesTy
    12 years ago

    We have an orchard with 80 mature (+1 immature) Rio Red grapefruit trees on our property, which generally produces a good crop year after year. Meyer lemons also do quite well.

    Although the Florida Sweet Barbados Cherry has better tasting fruits than the native variety, ours has so far produced less fruit than the two undomesticated plants we have.

    The neighbors have been successful in growing avocado and guava trees, among others.

    Ty

  • SoTX
    12 years ago

    The only pears I've had success with are oriental pears because even the ones resistant to fireblight succumb while the orientals haven't. I have more than three dozen assorted fruit trees looking for constant harvest in season & my trees come from the West Coast in order to get the low chill factor needed to produce here. Belle of Georgia gave me nothing (peach) and last year I was up to my xxx in peaches because the chill factor was met. Planted two of them before I knew any better. Watch your chill hours for any fruit--they will produce with more than they need but not less.

  • jun_
    12 years ago

    i have anna and dorsett, but dorsett didn't have any fruit set this year. Anna's are always small but I like the taste.
    persimmons, loquats do well here.

    I have my eye on some avocado trees I saw at Home Depot, "mexicola grande, lila, and brazos belle" these three are the most cold tolerant avocadoes.

    I'm in Houston, the only fruit that I have currently in my yard are actually tropical. Ambarella and sugar apple.

  • kumquatlady
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    SoTX,
    I wish I had up to my xxx with peaches. Please include names of your peaches that does so well here for those of us who are trying to choose the right kind. I've heard that Le conte, Courthouse, Golden boy, Hood, Florida home pears are tough and disease resistant. Anyone growing these?

  • plantmaven
    12 years ago

    For those that have pears:

    Pears make great pear butter. Very much like apple butter.

    Also pears make a good pie, like apple pie.

  • flowerlover78
    12 years ago

    I am interested as well in the pear names you ordered if you know them? Also what kind of apples- we have an anna apple but just its first year in. It had one apple this year and something ate it

  • copingwithclay
    12 years ago

    Buying and planting fruit trees/bushes/vines is done with hopeful anticipation of 'soon' enjoying great fruit from your own yard. Regretful reality: planting the wrong varieties of the wrong fruit in the wrong soil with wrong watering and wrong fertilizing......will ruin the plan. Local county extension agents, local independent nurseries, and local backyard fruit growers are some helpful sources of fruit info. Big box stores' purchasing agents can't study the best fruit for each area that they hope to sell to, and the wholesale nurseries that sell to them have lots of bills to pay. It is up to each backyard grower to investigate. The pretty fruit on the plastic tag that is attached to the box store's healthy tree....was likely grown far from where you would want to plant it, and signifigant differences in temperature, etc. are an issue. For example, the Orient pears here had tags that stated that they were "fireblight resistant". Lie. At least here when regular Spring rains visited. The plastic tag on the Shinko pear did not tell me, "This tree needs 800 chill hours for it to produce fruit, so do not waste your time and money planting it where the tree will only get 500-600 chill hours." The above-mentioned avocado varieties are probably grafted onto avocado rootstocks that soon produce a big-enough-to-sell tree, but are not cold hardy. Before I would buy them, I would get the name of the nursery that grafted the rootstocks,, phone them, and try to learn which particular rootstock was used. How cold hardy (if at all) is that specific r/s? Will it die at 20 degrees, or 27 degrees? Will it have to be 4" diameter before it reaches cold hardiness of up to 18 degrees, or 25 degrees? Too disinterested to research? I was. Lots of plant disappointments changed that.My old Leconte pear would get fireblight, so I grafted replacement branches onto it. My 10 year old Hood pear produces good fruit and has no fireblight, but it does not produce a consistent quantity of pears each year.The Red Baron peach produces nice fruit here following colder winters in 8B, the Midpride peach produces well each year, and the Tropic Snow white peach has a good crop each year of very tasty fruit.Other disease-resistant pears to consider are Acres Home, Meadows, Southern King, Southern Queen, and Tennosui.I appreciate your interest in planting good fruit that would possibly provide tasty treats for years to come. Great goal.

  • kumquatlady
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Copingwithclay,
    Thank you. I find your information very helpful. Yes, I agree that you have to find the right varieties to really know the joy of sweet harvest.
    Tropic snow peach sounds fantastic. I will plant that one as soon as I can get the tree. How soon do they start bearing fruit? I picked up a Le Conte pear tree a few day ago. I couldn't pass it up for $7.00. I've heard so much about this pear tree. Could you tell me what it tastes like and how soon it bears? Also some say it's self fertile others say it needs a pollinator. Do you know?

  • copingwithclay
    12 years ago

    Regarding the Tropic Snow, when the barely-soft mature fruit are picked, they will have about 80% of the typical 'yellow peach flavor' and about 20% of a'fruit punch flavor'. They will be balanced at about 50% sweet and 50% tart. I have a 3 year old Tropic Snow that grew fast and set about 10 fruit this year. I broke off most of them so the tree would use it's resources to get bigger quicker. An older T.S. provides fruit for now. The 10 or so year old Leconte here had a trunk with about 4-5" thickness and never did produce ONE pear to sample. It is planted in brown clay, well mulched, and should have been watered more during dry weather. If your area seldom gets rainy Spring conditions, maybe fireblight won't be a big concern. However, the amount of time/effort to care for this tree could have been spent on one that has a brighter future. Some pear trees take up to 10 years before they begin making babies. Acres Home is known to grow fast (when nurtured, of course) and produce good fruit at an early age. Being a learner only, I do not know whether the statement "European pears are generally self-fruitful" is always true or not. The sweet, fruity-flavored Hood pear is ALWAYS the first to flower each Spring and has already dropped it's flowers before the other pear trees start, and it sets fruit w/o ANY other pear pollen.Planting multiple good varieties that flower about the same time should cover the pollen swap needs.....Just like the claim that "more auto owner money is spent on the gasoline used in the full, long life of an auto (obviously not applicable to the status-symbol types)than is spent to purchase that auto", the purchase price on a lot of fruit trees is the cheapest part of the deal. A free puppy (or $7 pear tree)... isn't. Your local extension agent may have a list of fruit that have proven themselves in your area. Others that are not (yet)proven could be.... if people like you try those that grow and produce well in similar other places.As in 'kunquatladyseed' version of Johnny Appleseed.

  • kumquatlady
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Thank you for answering my question.
    Too bad, Le Conte does not bear. Maybe our winter here is not cold enough. I am learning that chill factor is huge for weather tree bears well or not bear at all, which is very valuable knowledge. I will plant Hood for fruit and use Le Conte as a shade tree, I guess (sigh). Did you guys know that we can grow Cherry trees in TX? I didn't know that till Yesterday. Minnie Royal and Royal Lee only needs 200-300 chilling requirement. Has anyone seen these cherry trees in stores or know of someone who growing it?

  • TxMarti
    12 years ago

    The apple tree I got the most apples from was marked Gala but was not. It looked and tasted like a Golden Delicious. The other one will be a surprise next year if it makes any. Last year it made one and the birds got it. It was supposed to be a Gala also, but I doubt it.

  • kumquatlady
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Marti8a,
    Where did you buy your apples trees? Does big box stores have tendency to miss mark their trees or the small nurseries?

  • greenleaf_organic
    12 years ago

    Kumquat, here in San Antonio the Celeste Fig does great and also tastes great. Only thing- need lots of mulch and water. Also, the Fan-Stil pear is a local variety by Mr. Fanick of Fanicks Nursery (still run by his kids). Mine is 7 years old and no fireblight problems,and good crops the last two years. (Very blight resistant). Have you considered Methley plum? Delicious but I found out the hard way that you have to prune 1/3 off each year (late winter) in order to get consistent crops.

    All the best!